JonnyPie

Hey I'm looking for suspension that will give me better handling then the OEM set up thats on the car now its a 96 EK HB its okay now a little lose on corners could be the tires as well but they are going to be changed this summer, so any ideas as to what would be the best? cheers

Jonny

MPR

Replace all the suspension bushings on the car with urethane bushings. Will make a big difference.

Tires will help as well.

Is it just a daily driver or do you track the car as well?

JonnyPie

just a DD, might take it to a track but not all the time maybe once in a blue moon, needs a lot of work put into it befor its track ready hahaha....thanks for the idea!, no Im hung up on lowering it or not dont want to go to low cuz I'm in Northern Ontario, but would changing the shocks help at all too?

JDMej1

like mpr said change all your bushings to urethane ones, helps a lot, also a good strut/spring combo will improve your handling and give you a bit of a drop so your not too low.

Persia

TIRES!!!! OMG TIRES MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE! <--- sorry i got excited.

Strut bars = show
Tires are so vital to handling

D.T.P

You could invest in some good quality coilovers. Ride will be much stiffer and handle better. Ride height is adjustable so going up or down is not a problem.
Now as Mike and persia mentioned tires and bushings are a big deal, they will stiffen up the ride and eliminate some looseness on turns. Thicker or lower sidewalls feel a LOT different on corners.
I guess we should have started this with your budget for suspension.

JonnyPie

well want it to handle nice so thinking around 1500 or so for parts can do the labour myself.

how hard would it be to replace the bushings on 1-10 would take a full day to do it and not rush though it.

subsonic-civic

iTrader: (2)

sway bars would help clean up those corners as well =)

MPR

You don't need to lower your car to improve the handling. That is only a partial truth.

What you want to do for the best handling is choose the proper spring rates according to the vehicles weight and weight distribution so that all tires are loaded up equally. To do this and maintain comfortable daily driving means choosing the correct springs/dampers and anti-roll bar combination's. It gets extremely complicated to explain in more depth so I'll stop there. If you want to know, there is a way to calculate it but I won't get into that now or I'll be typing a novel. lol

I think for the OP, the best thing to do would be to go to a bit stiffer springs like eibach sportlines, which are not stiff enough that they require aftermarket dampers, and you can install adjustable ride height collars so you can choose to 'slam' it in the summer and raise it back up in the winter. Also you could install larger anti roll bars front and rear. A larger rear bar can induce some nice lift-off over-steer during more extreme maneuvers...(fun)

And yes, tires make a huge difference. What tires are you running right now?

JonnyPie

wow!!! I knew there was a lot to the suspenstion but damn you just blow it open hahahaha think for now I will look into getting aftermarket bushings and sway bars, and take a longer look into springs and shocks! maybe get some help from a good shop on at one! hopefuly some one that knows what they are doing! hahahaha


right now I got tires that got me passed my safety hahahaha think some all season and still some winter ones....tires are deff on the top of my list to get right away though! hahahaha

cant thank you guys enough this site is amazing with all the guys that are willing to take a few mins to help out! CHEERS

kaval

Start by replacing all of the worn bushings and steering-related components on your car (ball joints, bushings, etc). This alone will make a HUGE difference and make the car a pleasure to drive again. After you've done that, start with tires and then shocks and springs. The effect of your coilover or spring/strut combo setup is heavily dependent on how 'fresh' your chassis is.

This is just my experience...

Robb

iTrader: (1)

Better handling is a combiintaion of things:

Stiffer spring rates
Poly bushings
lower sway bars
lower center of gravity
wider tire/wheel stance
front lower bumper splitter and functional rear spoiler (better grip on high speed turns)

MPR

Don't worry, I won't start arguing about using anti-roll bars this time...lol

MPR

OP; start with replacing the suspension bushings and get a better set of tires, see how you like it and go from there.

JonnyPie

yeah looking into full bushing kits right now! and have been looking for new tires since i got the car hahahaha thanks for your help!

Climax_R

iTrader: (1)

I agree with everybody here.. replacing bushings.. tires etc.. would make a huge difference... but if you're looking to do a basic suspension set up... and you don't want to go way too low... here's my suggestion.. and this is after bushings and tires have been changed... you should try the Tein+Tokico combination.. it's not too expensive.. and it's great for daily drive.. For a lower ride you should go with the Tein S-techs.. if you want to be just under stock height go for the H-techs... and include a set of Tokico blue struts... you will be surprised at what a reasonably priced combo like that can do..

kaval

I would recommend the Hardrace bushing kit. HARDRACE - Performance Suspension Parts

JonnyPie

I was looking at the Energy HyperFlex Master Bushing Kit any one have coments on that companys product if you have used it good bad okay?

looking into the Hardrace bushings too web page is a little out of date and no real info on it up on google

subsonic-civic

iTrader: (2)

haha make the OP search it instead. I read it and it makes total sense. But my car is on the street 99.99% of the time anyways. Assumingly, so would the OP's. =)

Pistol Pete

Go buy some PIC Apex coilovers,

end thread.